The Field in September
Today it was a really lovely September day – sunny, warm, but not too hot. The roofers had finished work on the extension by lunch time, so I took the opportunity to spend the afternoon at The Field.
As I walked along the edge of the maize field – or what was the maize field before it was harvested, I could hear a sort of roaring rattle! I stopped to watch the buzzard circling slowly over the stubble, but then, as I came over the railway bridge I saw that a tractor was circling The Field. I’m not certain what was happening, but I think possibly sowing. Adam told me that the field is to have rye in it next, so they may have been planting the rye seeds. It definitely looks like a hopper of some kind, don’t you think?
I had already thought that I might paint one of the big mature oaks in the field boundaries this month. I walked through the metal kissing gate into the adjoining field, and did some drawings looking though the boundary line of trees and scrubby hedge back into my field. The lower afternoon sun was lighting up the bark and the undergrowth beautifully!
The noisy tractor had certainly scared all the birds, as I saw none at all in my field, although the jackdaws were ‘chacking’ away in the horse chestnut trees by the barn owl’s nest box, and partridges were pecking their way through the wheat stubble fields, accompanied by wood pigeons.
The birds may have been scarce but the insects were out in force. Grasshoppers, crane flies, butterflies and lots of dragon and damsel flies including this beauty posing on the blackthorn in the sun.
The hedges are simply laden with haws, hips, sloes and blackberries still. 
The hips from dog roses and field roses were so plentiful, and such a stunning colour that I decided to make them the subject of my ‘snippings’ drawing this month. I am also planning on doing a small painting of a jam-jar full of them – the colour is just asking to be painted! – and I also brought back a twig of oak with some acorns which may turn into another small painting.
Extension news: The roof is finished and looks really good! The bad news is that nothing else can happen now until probably next Wednesday, due to a delay in the delivery of the glazed doors. Apparently the manufacturers are waiting for ‘a part’ . . . . Until the door is in the plaster board which butts up to the door frame cannot be finished, and the building is not water tight, so the plastering cannot be done, and neither can anything else, as the next stage – skirting boards, floor, fitting the loo and wash basin, fitting the toilet door, final fix electrics – all need to be done after the plastering. I am treating it as a little holiday from having the builders here all the time! I suppose the day will come when everything is finished . . .
Hope you are able to enjoy this wonderful September weather. 🙂
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